


The Promise

by CharlotteDumont



Category: Chris Evans - Fandom
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 11:25:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7101274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlotteDumont/pseuds/CharlotteDumont
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a silly promise; a promise that you two had made when you were children, but it was something you held on to all those years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Promise

 

Chris was your next door neighbor, you two have known each other since you were both still in diapers. Despite being more your age, he also happened to be your older brother’s best friend. You, being your brother’s biggest fan, tagged along with them too, making you an honorary member of their exclusive club. 

It was a hot summer day and your brother was off to his first year in college. He wanted to be there a couple of weeks early so he could survey the place, at least that’s what he told your parents. You sobbed in your brother’s arms as he whispered comforting words. Chris stood behind you, putting on a brave face, but if you looked close enough you saw how much he was gonna miss his best friend too. “Take care of her for me will you?” your brother said to Chris. “Always,” he said giving your brother a pat on the shoulder.

When your brother left, you and Chris became inseparable. If you weren’t on the phone with each other, you were both at the treehouse either reading the latest comic book releases or playing Jenga. Not surprisingly, it was during these moments alone that you two had deep and meaningful conversations. 

One random day, you two had just spoken to your brother who virtually introduced you to his new girlfriend. You were of course thrilled for him, but you also felt a pang of sadness at the thought that he wouldn’t call you as much. Chris seemed to pick up on this quickly. “You’re not alone, you know. You still have me,” he tried comfortingly. You didn’t even ask how he knew what you were thinking. “But one day you’re gonna have to go too,” you answered quietly, not trusting yourself to say any more without crying. 

“I can see what’s happening,” he said scooting over to you. “What?” you replied confused. “And they don’t have a clue,” you furrowed your brows, “who?”

“They’ll fall in love and here’s the bottom line, our trio’s down to two,” he sang. “OH!” you said laughing as he continued to sing the song from the Lion King. You ended up in a fit of giggles on the tree house floor after he had belted out the chorus earning an angry “SHUT IT KID!” from one of your cranky old neighbors. 

When you two could breathe normally without exploding into laughter, you found yourselves lying face to face with one another. It wasn’t awkward at all, just a little curious. “You’re too good to me Christopher Robert Evans,” you smiled as you lost yourself in his big blue eyes. He smiled back and stroked your cheek with his thumb. “My best girl deserves nothing less,” he replied, giving you butterflies in your stomach. “God Christopher, don’t call me that if you don’t mean it or I might just believe you,” you joked. His smile faltered and you were worried that it was a bad joke but before you could take it back he said, “what if I told you that I wanted to marry you one day? What if I want this to last forever?” he asked in all seriousness. “Chris,” you laughed awkwardly, “I’m only sixteen and you’re only seventeen, we’ve got a long way to go. I mean you might still want to change your mind,” you said trying to mask how much you wanted to be with him with your usual sass. 

“Y/N I feel it coming,” Chris said pulling you down the stairs and towards the gardens. “Chris enough, don’t you  dare!” you said in mock exasperation, “but it’s bubbling, and I can’t hold it in. You can’t stop it, you… You are sixteen going on seventeen fellows will fall in line,” he twirled you as he sang acapella to the Sound of Music’s “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” song. “I am seventeen going on eighteen, I'll take care of you.” You both began laughing and dancing on the grass despite the lack of music. “I’m serious though,” he said when you were both panting and trying to catch your breath. “I want to marry you one day. I promise no matter what happens, I’m going to marry you.”

When he left your hometown to become an actor, Chris went on to becoming Captain America and you couldn’t be prouder of him. But along with his big break he’d also left you behind. It wasn’t something he did intentionally, in fact you were one of the reasons why he took the role despite turning it down several times. He invited you to the premiere and, surprise surprise, introduced you to his current girlfriend. It crushed you to hear him say the words but you smiled and shook her hand like a decent human being, all the while trying not to cry until you got back to your hotel. The next few years after that, you had pretty much resigned yourself to the fact that there was nothing more to the two of you than a good, lasting friendship. 

As the years passed you tried to put yourself together and started dating other guys. While a lot of them became good friends of yours, you never actually ended up with any of them because, although you’d never admit it, none of them were Chris. 

You were back home for the holidays and coincidentally, Chris and his newest girlfriend were flying in too. You thought you were over him and his silly little promise, but the fact that you were so disturbed by him bringing his date to meet his family said otherwise. You decided that you needed to mentally prep yourself for the evening the adult way: with wine. Lots of it. This is how you found yourself sipping wine in your bathtub, listening to Adele’s latest heartbreak ballad. You had just enough to get buzzed, but not enough to consider yourself drunk. Perfect.

The evening had gone pretty well for the most part and his date was charming, albeit a little boring. It was a bad decision, however, to have more wine for dinner considering you already started drinking before you left. 

Chris found you alone on the porch, “looks like someone’s having a rough day,” he joked, referring to the bottle of wine you took from the kitchen and now horded for yourself. You barely looked his way, focusing instead on… well anything else but him. “Seriously, Y/N, are you okay?” he asked worriedly.

“Yup, absolutely. I just prefer to be left alone right now if you don’t mind,” you said trying to sound convincing. You supposed it was the way your voice trembled slightly or the tears that now threatened to fall, but instead of leaving like you’d asked, he pulled you to him instead. “Let go of me!” you said pushing him off you. You didn’t mean to shout, but the combination of the wine and the pain that swelled in your chest must have done something to let you lose control. “The fuck is wrong with you, Y/N? You’ve been acting so weird lately. You haven’t been replying to my messages, you barely answer my calls, and now this!” Chris was honestly more worried than angry. 

“What do you want me to say, Chris?” you asked frustrated. “I want you to be honest with me, Y/N. Tell me the goddamn truth instead of saying you’re okay when CLEARLY you aren’t.” 

“I’m not alright! Okay? Are you satisfied? I’m not alright,” you said, the tears now raining freely down your face. You ran towards the garden before anyone else could see you cry. Chris followed close behind, reaching for your shoulder and gently spinning you around. “Y/N, please tell me what’s wrong. Did I do something to hurt you? Please tell me so I can make it right,” he said sincerely. “It doesn’t...matter. Just--I’ll be okay,” you said between sobs. “Y/N please just tell me, I’ll fix it I promise--” 

“You and your stupid promises! Stop, just stop! You really wanna know what’s been bothering me? I’ll tell you. Remember ten years ago when we lay face to face on the floor of that tree house?” you said pointing to your childhood playground. “Ten years ago you promised me you’d marry me when we grew up. But now you seem to be, I don’t know, dating all the fucking girls in LA. And why wouldn’t you? Why would you deliberately choose to be stuck with a small town girl like me? God I’m an idiot,” you rambled on. “I know we were children when you promised it, and I know I shouldn’t hold you accountable for a silly, meaningless promise. But it wasn’t just a silly promise, at least not to me. And all those years I tried to deny it but it seems like I’m still hopelessly in love with you, Christopher. Oh God what am I even doing telling you this?” you asked out loud to no one in particular, taking a swig of wine directly from the bottle. “Let me take that, I think you’ve had enough for one day,” Chris said calmly, grabbing the bottle and putting it aside. You tried to protest but your coordination was off thanks to all the alcohol. “Goddamn it Chris, I just need you to stop being so nice to me unless you’re gonna marry me after,” you slurred as he carried you to your bed. 

“Let’s talk about this all in the morning, okay? Assuming you remember any of this,” he said tucking you in. “Mmm… good night Evans,” you mumbled. “Good night, Y/N,” he said stroking your cheek with his knuckles.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing prompt challenge from Tumblr. 
> 
> #17 - “I’m not alright! Okay? Are you satisfied? I’m not alright.” 
> 
> #36 - “I just need you to stop being so nice to me unless you’re gonna marry me after.”
> 
> http://winterwolf57.tumblr.com/post/145439948139/writing-prompts


End file.
